Sooo… I had taken these photos back in October, but completely forgot about them until I was clearing out my phone photos! But, better late than never right? I bought two of the essence liquid lipsticks to try out for my failed October lipstick challenge. They were only $3.50 each which is a really good deal.

Ever since I discovered essence, I’ve been raving about it non-stop. So far, I’ve tried their eyebrow pencil, lip liners, lipsticks, and now, the liquid lipstick. The crazy thing is that the total price I spent on 7 products has been under $40!

What it says (Taken from essence website):Liquid love! This NEW formula combines the best of both lipstick and lipgloss. Get the impact and coverage of a lipstick with the moisturizing shine of a gloss.For $3.50, the packaging was very good quality. It came in a sturdy clear tube so you could see how much product you had left and what shade was inside. The lid was stamped with the essence ‘e’.

Application: With the term liquid lipstick, I was expecting it to be more pigmented than it was. These are definitely more on the lip gloss side and applied sheenly. I had to use 3 swipes to get a pigmented colour. Even then, it was a bit difficult to have an even application because with every swipe, the colour would move around on your lips.

Wear: I could definitely feel that I was wearing product, as it felt a bit sticky like lip gloss. Maybe if I only wore 1 layer I wouldn’t feel it, but then it would just look like a clear sheen. They transferred easily and did not last that long.Wearing 05 peach party.

Wearing 02 beauty secret.

Very affordable, only $3.50 each

Great study packaging and design

Great shine

Definitely not a liquid lipstick, should have been marketed as a lip gloss

Not pigmented enough to be a liquid lipstick

Yay as a lipgloss, nay as a liquid lipstick. So maybe a meh? Haha!

With the term liquid lipstick, I had much higher expectations and it fell short. However, this would be a decent lip gloss for the price. It would look nice over a lipstick for an added sheen!

I’ve mentioned in many of my Estee Lauder posts that I love their lipsticks, but just realized I never wrote a review just for it! So, that is what this post is going to be about. I’ve been a huge fan of Estee Lauder lipsticks, and you really can’t go wrong with them.

The formulation of the Estee Lauder lipsticks have always been consistent. Even with the new Estee Edit lipsticks, I find their formulation is the same which is a relief!

I have a few of their lipsticks, but I decided to showcase this one because I love a nice, classic red. It is the shade empowered. The lipstick is nice and creamy, but also pigmented and not sheer. It is quite buildable as well.

This is a minor thing, but the packaging just gives it that extra level and touch of luxury. All the caps are actually magnetic, so they snap nicely to the lipstick. It is very satisfying to see and hear.Here is a photo of me wearing this shade!

One problem I have with this shade, and only this shade, is that it tends to bleed outside your lips. If you look closely, you’ll see this shade feather out which is not a good sight!

It’s not too big of a deal and barely noticeable unless you’re up close, but would probably be best if you wore this shade with a matching liner. I still love this lipstick and is one of my favourites!

By now, I’m sure you have ALL heard of Kylie Jenner, or at the very least, the Kardashians. I’m not going to go into detail with them because I do not ‘Keep Up with the Kardashians’ (pun intended) and have never watched their ‘reality’ TV show nor do I ever plan to.

I never took an interest in Kylie’s lip products, until Maki told me she was planning on buying her products. The initial reaction of ‘Whaaatt whyyyyy’ shifted to curiosity, which is seemingly fitting for my blog’s name, Curiously Carmen :)!

Maki really enjoyed the formula of her lip kits , much to both of our surprise. Unfortunately, she did not like how one of the shades looked with her skintone, so she gave it to me. Fast forward to today, I am here to review the product!

The product I will be reviewing today is the Kylie matte liquid lipstick in the shade 22. 22 is a beautiful, attention grabbing bright orange-y red.Whenever I wear 22, I seem to always receive compliments on the colour. People are often surprised that it is by Kylie Jenner, because they didn’t know that her products were actually pretty decent (myself included in the past).The swatch above is just from one swipe! You can see how pigmented it is. The top corner looks a bit weird because that was the first spot I swatched, and it was still drying.

As the name suggests, it is a true matte finish. Once it dries, it does NOT budge, so it is important to apply it slowly and carefully. This is not one of those lipsticks where you can quickly grab it from your purse, and blindly swipe it on your lips without a mirror.

The few seconds that it takes to dry may feel strange if you’re not used to a matte lip product. It dries out my lip at first and I feel the need to put lip balm on. After a couple of minutes, the feeling goes away and it wears pretty comfortably.

What I love most about this product is how LONG it lasts. As I said above, this lipstick seriously does not budge. I tested it and wore it for over 9 hours, with meals/drinks/snacks in between and only the middle part faded a little. It is really impressive and so far, the longest lasting lip product I’ve tried.

It is also incredibly pigmented and very true to colour. One swipe is all you will need. Although it is extremely long lasting and highly pigmented, there is no chemical scent or taste to the lipstick and it has never smudged on my lip.Here is a picture taken TEN hours after wear, using bright flash so you can see it better. I applied this at around 1pm, and took it off at 11pm. You can see the middle part start to fade.

During these ten hours, I drank some water, iced tea, and ate a filling sushi & udon dinner. I was positive that the slippery udon would get rid of the lipstick, but nope! Amazing!

Overall, I am really impressed with Kylie’s lip products. I never thought I would try her products, or let alone LOVE it, but I’m really glad I gave it a chance. I’m already thinking of the next shades that I want to try. Unfortunately, they are a bit pricey with the USD conversion and shipping rate seeing how I’m a jobless student right now. But I’m hoping to get some more during Christmas!

Edit: After writing this post, the Kylie Gods were on my side and they offered free international shipping! I wanted to buy them ALLLL, but I behaved and only bought one! It arrived about a week later, and is the Leo shade.

Week two of the October lipstick challenge was harder than Week 1. Things crept up and I found myself pretty busy suddenly. I also didn’t sleep really well this past week, which made the days harder than it should have been. Oh yeah, cold season has also officially hit. I’ve been trying hard not to get sick this week, with a few people around me that have already fallen victim. Stay warm, hydrated, and get plenty of rest if you’re reading this!

With everything I had to do, I had to make it an effort to remember to apply lipstick, which is quite silly in the grand scheme of things. I also haven’t really been in the mood to trying new colours this week, but that’s probably because I was feeling so blah and busy. Nonetheless, I pushed myself through and was able to finish this week’s challenge.Day 8: Estee Lauder Pure Colour Envy in shade Empowered. The last time I wore this was at Chinese New Year, because bright red is a symbol of good fortune and health. It wasn’t as bright as I remembered it to be, which means I’ll feel comfortable wearing it more often.Day 9: Essence Liquid Lipstick in shade #02 Beauty Secret. I picked up a few lip products this weekend, and this was one of them. I wasn’t too impressed with the formula because it was more of a gloss than a liquid lipstick, but they were also under $4. It applied pretty sheer and unevenly.

I’ll probably do a more thorough review on these because it seems like you guys like my drugstore reviews!Day 10: Essence Liquid Lipstick in shade 05 Peach Party. This was the other liquid lipstick shade I bought over the weekend. Again, it wasn’t as pigmented as I would have liked for a liquid lipstick but I like the colour of this one a bit more!Day 11: Essence Long Lasting Lipstick in shade #06 Barely There. This was the third and last lipstick I bought on the weekend! I like the essence lipsticks more than their liquid lipsticks. I actually really liked this colour but it did take many coats to reach the desired colour!Day 12: Covergirl Wetslicks in shade Blackberry. This was the first dark shade I was ever introduced to! I remember when the Wetslicks line first came out in high school. Rihanna was the Covergirl (pun intended) and I desperately wanted the whole line because everything smelled so nice and fruity.

The line is sadly discontinued now, but I bought this a couple years ago as a throwback. No, this is not from high school- that’s gross and the lipgloss would be too old!Day 13: MAC Lipstick in shade Ladybug. Another nice, classic red. I seem to have a lot of classic reds in my arsenal. I don’t wear this as often as I should, mainly because I think it’s a bit too bright. But now that I’m looking at the photo, I don’t think it’s that bad!Day 14: Revlon Moisturious Lip Colour in shade #160 Berry Drenched w/ Stila Stay All Day Liner in shade Cabernet. I really love the combo of these two! Berry Drenched is such a flattering colour, but my only gripe with this is that the lipstick is very grainy and rough.

I think there was either a manufacturing defect or the lipstick crystallized, but I didn’t bring it into any extreme temperatures so that might not be it! I cringe at how sandy it feels, but I do love how the colour looks.

This is my first time participating in any sort of makeup challenge! I’ve seen many going around, such as monthly product empty challenges or nail polish challenges, but I knew for SURE that I would fail those. For starters, it takes me months if not over a year to finish products, and I definitely will not be able to paint my nails everyday! I decided to try this challenge on a whim, after seeing Kristy from Glitter OCD post about it.

Here is what I wore for the first week of the October lip challenge!Day 1- Colourpop Lippiestix in shade Leather: I bought a bunch of Colourpop items back in March, but didn’t end up wearing them as much as I wish I would have! I am a big fan of purple lips, so thought I would start with this.

I remember the lippiestix to be more drying, but I guess it’s because I’m more used to matte lips now.Day 2- Smashbox Be Legendary Cream lipstick in shade witchy: Yesssss, vampy shades. I really like this colour, but my one minor gripe with this is the formulation. It leaves coloured specks on my lips, as mentioned in my review.

However, they aren’t too noticeable from afar and I end up dabbing it to smooth it out.Day 3- Estee Edit Barest Lip Colour in shade #2, in the flesh. I’m not a huge fan of nude lipsticks on me, but I think this one is growing on me!

As with all Estee Lauder/Estee Edit products, their lipstick formulations are impeccable and I absolutely love them.Day 4- Make Up For Ever Rouge Artist Intense Lipstick in Shade 43- Very classic red! This was the first time I wore this lipstick, I think?

I bought it a year ago from the Black Friday or Boxing Day sale, I don’t remember which. I liked how it was creamy and pigmented.Day 5- AERIN by Estee Lauder Lipgloss in shade Weekday. Can you tell I love Estee Lauder lip products yet?! This lipgloss is a glossy, natural nude pink. I liked how pigmented it was, even though it was a gloss. Very comfortable to wear and not sticky either.Day 6- Estee Lauder Pure Colour Envy in #480 Reckless. Again,I haven’t worn this shade before but I really liked it. I would describe it as a plum with pink undertones. It is pigmented but also has a nice sheen.Day 7- Colourpop Lippiestix in shade Dalia, and Stila Stay All Day Liner in shade Cabernet. Dalia is a nice wine colour with brown undertones. I also really wanted to test out the Stila lip liner. Dalia went perfectly with it!

Thoughts after week 1: I have been enjoying this challenge a lot! There have been a couple days where I almost forget, because I have to consciously make an effort to remember trying a new shade each day. It really is a challenge because I usually only stick with 2-3 lipsticks in my makeup bag.

This has pushed me out of wearing the usual shades and exploring other colours. There are so many lipsticks I own that I’ve only tried once, or never, prior to this challenge.